| | |  Editorials | Opinions | September 2008 
U.S. Drug Users: Main Cause for Mexico’s Bloodbath
 Patrick Osio Jr. - HispanicVista.com
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 |  | The American media's coverage of the narcoviolence taking place in Mexico paints a picture of lawlessness and corruption, with no regard for the American policies and drug market that made it that way. |  | | | |
It’s time to take the gloves off and lay the responsibility for the bloodbath taking place on a daily basis in Mexico where it belongs – U.S. drug users. Mexican-style mafiosos are killing each other along with Mexican police officers, judges, prosecutors, journalists and innocent bystanders - be they adults or children - in order to gain transportation corridors through which to smuggle illicit drugs into the waiting hands of U.S. drug users.
And how is the U.S. media reporting such events? American media is using this as an illustration of Mexico's lawlessness. Most articles insert the phrase "corrupt Mexican lawmen" in the story. Hardly any report ever mentions the end users in the United States, who are the reason for the carnage.
"It would stop being a business if the United States didn't want drugs," Benjamin Arellano Felix, one of the most ruthless and merciless drug capos responsible for hundreds of killings, told the Washington Post in a prison interview after Mexican authorities apprehended him.
Corruption in Mexico is no different than it was during the prohibition era in Chicago, New York, New Jersey and most major cities where the mafia fought for territorial rights to sell liquor smuggled from Canada. And today, is there still one naïve U.S. citizen who believes there is no official corruption in Anytown, USA?
Yes, there is corruption in Mexico - more than a country deserves, - but Mexico does not have a monopoly. Like in the United States, there is a steadily growing number of honest, non-corrupt officials throughout Mexico.
During the U.S. prohibition era there were many non-corrupt officers throughout the country who valiantly fought to defend law and order; many fell along with numerous innocent victims who were caught in the battles. This is now happening in Mexico.
American news media touch on President Filipe Calderon’s declaration of war against organized crime in Mexico. This war is as real as our war against terrorism, and as all wars, it causes casualties. But instead of celebrating the bravery and ultimate sacrifice by the many that fall in the line of duty to keep drugs away from American families, news reports mark Mexico as "lawless." This is an injustice and a lack of fair reporting.
The recreational use of drugs - marijuana in particular - along with more dangerous addictive drugs, has over several decades become entrenched in American culture, greatly aided by Hollywood’s glamorization of drug use in films. Though marijuana is the most used, in the 1970s, cocaine became the darling of the "successful." It was the high cost of cocaine that created the link between U.S. users and Latin American producers, who originally used Mexico as a transportation corridor when it became more difficult to use Florida’s coast as an entry point. This gave way to the Mexican capos and the beginning of the reign of terror in Mexico - all to satisfy the cravings of U.S. recreational drug users, who eventually became addicts.
Make no mistake: If Mexico loses the war against the drug trafficking capos, the United States is the biggest loser. Every year, 17,000 American lives are lost to drugs. More than 60 percent of the jail population is due to drug-related crimes. And the annual cost - not counting what states and municipalities spend - exceeds $200 billion. But the biggest costs are the destroyed lives and families.
Users excuse their own behavior with the line: "My drug use doesn’t harm anyone but me." But drug usage creates carnage; real people are being killed in both Mexico and the United States.
Pointing the finger at Mexico as the source of our problems has become all too handy an excuse by our government, the news media and by far too many of our citizens to avoid facing problems of our own making. |
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